Dimensions: 8 15/16 × 8 9/16 in. (22.7 × 21.75 cm) (image)11 1/8 × 10 9/16 in. (28.26 × 26.83 cm) (sheet)
Copyright: No Copyright - United States
Eva Auld Watson made this color woodcut called 'Gulls and Spray', but the date is unknown. I love that it looks like you could reach out and touch the water—I can almost smell the sea! It's easy to imagine Watson carefully carving each layer, figuring out how the colours would shift and change as she built up the image. You know, printmaking is like that, you’re never really sure exactly what it's going to look like until you pull the final print. Look at the way she rendered the movement of the birds. The forms aren't too labored; each one is economical, yet full of expression. I think she might have looked at Japanese prints. There is a similar sensibility that floats through her composition. I see artists as being in conversation with each other all the time. When we look at art, we join that conversation too. There is no one way to see this piece. Every person will bring something different to it.
Comments
Eva Auld Watson loved printing on linoleum, specifically Armstrong-brand blocks that she glued to stiff board. While many block printers carved planks of wood, Watson loved the uniform color possible with linoleum. Even though Gulls and Spray consists of twelve colors, it was made with only four separate blocks. That’s because Watson used the linoleum like a palette, graduating some colors and introducing entirely new ones all on the same block. She then applied the block to wet paper, finding that the damp fibers made the colors blend further. In the midst of these harmonies reigns disharmony, as these seagulls flee the watery assault on their perch.
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